8 litres delivered. Happy Mrs J.

Saturday was community day at St Mary's church in Lewisham, a perennial Good Gym favourite. 3 hardy runners turned up, despite predictions of filthy weather, ready to help Sue and the team out with getting the churchyard ready for winter and the hope of spring.

The tasks were simple, get of the wild alliums and alkanet and plant bulbs, both more appropriate alliums and tulips. Despite stepping on many of the bulbs we were to plant, we'd soon cleared a vast space and got the bulbs in.

And St Mary's are one of our most generous hosts and afterward we were rewarded with some of Joy's lovely spicy squash and coconut soup, which warmed us all up again after an hour and a half in the cold.

Adi was in Sydenham's Mayow Park on dull and soggy morning today, The weather meant that it didn’t take that long to get the park litter free though.

Paul had litter picked a day earlier in cold sun along the Ravensbourne in Deptford’s Brookmill Park, river levels were a bit lower this week so he was able to get to areas that have been inaccessible for a couple of week so more litter picked than for a few weeks. There was lots of wildlife including herons, a kingfisher, lots of mallards, and several foxes - including a friendly one asleep in the sun. He got some positive feedback from a member of the park Friends group.

A rather protracted mission for a the lovely Mr J as the sample to take to the GPs wasn’t ready when I got there. So I went out to do the very straightforward shop in the cold winter sun first - Deptford market and then ASDA. So it was then a trot back along the way that I’d come with the sample to take to the GPs. The fox was spotted on my way to Mr J’s.

When I I got to the lovely Ms Y’s she asked me to get some snowballs. I said that I might struggle as while I saw a bit of sleet on Wednesday, nothing had stuck. ‘Not that sort of snowball!’ Came the riposte. I thought of the advocaat based cocktail and knew it wouldn’t be that as Ms Y doesn’t drink. In the end she showed me the packet of Cadbury chocolates and it all made sense

Similarly, asking me to defrost when I got back with the straightforward shop (plus Snowballs…) seemed unnecessary given the layers I had on. But it was her freezer that needed a scrape.

I ran to the wildcat today but had no idea my first aid skills would be required.

We found a poor squirrel drowning in a freezing cold tank of rainwater. There was a lot of panic amongst the others but i think a combination of being a farmer’s daughter and having ADHD sprung me into action.

[If anyone wonders why I mentioned the ADHD - we are brilliant in an emergency. The brain floods with all the dopamine and other emergency hormones that we lack in everyday life and we are able to think on the spot and act in the moment. We can’t be on time for all the money in the world but put us in an emergency situation with a problem to solve and we are your people.]

So while everyone wondered what to do, I grabbed the nearest long piece of wood I could find, and fished the poor creature out.

The squirrel was not moving at all and barely breathing. So I covered him with straw to keep warm and decided the best thing to do was to let him rest. Past experience has taught me that sometimes the animal may sadly die from stress, but sometimes they will be so exhausted that they just lie there, recovering from their exertions.

After an hour, he had run away! Hopefully he will make a full recovery and isn’t too traumatised. So glad he was ok 🥰

We made sure we covered the water tank so it cannot happen again. Something to think about for sure. If the water container can’t be sealed, I’ve since learned that just putting in a plank of wood for animals to use to crawl out is the safest option.

Oh and then I did some normal Wildcat stuff. But it was mostly squirrel drama today.